The natural world allows us to show of more of our individual talents, whereas the urban landscape seems to only allow us to show what is needed of us in terms of industry.
Modern Times echoes these themes and images of the early representation of the modern city. However, the film is much more comedic, but with the same message. For example, the factory scene shows the same monotony. It is comedic, yet it is also representing the dehumanizing of urban workers because of the extreme technological advances (Hicks 2007). This film represents a strange sense of automation taking the life and quality out of production within modern urban environments. There is the incessant need to be faster, and Chaplin's character can't even take a short break. Yet the workplace is not an ideal environment -- the fly that keeps bothering him represents the constant torture the modern worker endures...
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